Would You Press the Button? (part four)

In order to solicit comments and opinions regarding the cognitive and emotional struggle that many ordinary people seem to wrestle over when faced with the question, I started a Facebook group a few days ago entitled, "Would you press a button for $1 MILLION if it meant a stranger would die?"

The description of this group was a direct copy/paste of my leading entry in this series, with one notable exception: Since the Facebook group question was specifically placed to elicit a response from a variety of people from a diversity of backgrounds, I added the following line:

"TELL THE TRUTH (For example, somebody may rationalize a "yes" by then stating that they would use the money to save more than one life, etc.)"

This resulted in barrage of messages being sent to my Facebookpersonal inbox. One could only categorize some of them as being "hate mail," judgments laden with harsh comments of disapproval and disappointment. Some of the more temperate comments included:

"How could you Paul, of all people, condone a choice to kill just to help others???"

"Shame on you for rationalizing the murder of innocents!"

Huh? Did I miss something?

Where did I ever say that was my position? I simply wrote that "somebody may rationalize…"

This all serves as a perfect lead in to my pre-planned third observation, another way that we, as human beings, push the button every day. For all of you on Facebook who quickly jumped to a false conclusion, thanks for helping me to illustrate my point.

The fact is that we human beings, on average, are very quick in forming an opinion or position. Typically, and with very little counsel or input, we form conclusions – often incorrect – and classify things into what we view as the relevant box.

Rapid judgments and actions, devoid of the required information and contemplation, leave us pushing the button daily.

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1 Comment

Wow, I would’ve never assumed that was your opinion! Maybe because I read all of the description 🙂 Seems like many people obviously missed something.
And, NO, I would not push it, and that’s the truth. Not for $1 mill, not for $100 mill. Even with the rationalization of helping more people–how do I know that that stranger wouldn’t be the one to find a cure for HIV, or end the malaria epidemic in Africa, or find a cure for cancer??? That rationalization is yet another example of jumping to a conclusion–assuming you could do more than that stranger could have.
There are MANY other reasons why I would not, but that is just 1 of them.
I’m enjoying your series!